Sunday, January 24, 2010

Pandora's Box

Pandora, in Greek mythology, opened the forbidden box, releasing all the evils of mankind.

Pandora's Boxxx-- is a  business across town that provides adult videos and myriad flavored, edible garments and contraptions.

Pandora is the planet in a certain James Cameron blockbuster.

But my Pandora is "the personalized internet radio service that helps you find new music based on your old and current favorites."

 You create your own channels.

You can go indie-- and hear cool stuff you'd never have stumbled on otherwise. You can go classical. You can go ambient, you can go childhood. I did.

America, the Eagles, David Crosby, the Beatles, streamed from one of my channels yesterday, unleashing all kinds of memories.

Pandora said, "Based on what you've told us so far, we're playing these tracks because they feature folk rock qualities, mild rhythmic syncopation, repetitive melodic phrasing, acoustic sonority and major key tonality."

And then Wildfire came on. You know, 'she ran out crying Wildfire! Wildfire!' That one. A pony-- lost in a blizzard...etc. Weep fest! I was 14 again. 




 So my Pandora channel might as well say:
"Based on what you've told us so far, we're playing this track becasue it features adolescent angst, hormonal surges, huge crushes, slam books, clammy hand=holding, crying a LOT, especially about ponies lost in blizzards."What does your channel say?

ADDENDUM: I should explain.
Crying on the shoulder of a flannel-shirted husband, saying, but he was planting by the light of the moon, and there was an early frost and he's waiting to join Wildfire and the beautiful woman from Yellow Mountain, to take him away from his hard times...don't you see? I KNOW it's only a song, but...

And then The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald came on, about the shipwreck, "And all that remains is the faces and the names/Of the wives and the sons and the daughters."

Can't you listen to happy songs? he says to me.

2 comments:

  1. Ah…nice. I’ve been streaming Pandora for the last year or so. I have a “station” called DV’s Alt C&W Radio and a couple others, too. The former probably says all manner of things about me including that I like a Patsy Cline and old style honky tonk sound. I like the nostalgia of a radio station. One of my all time fave CDs is a Journey album called “Raised on Radio.” If you are not aware of Playlist.com you may want to check it out. Pretty cool, too. You can create a personalized playlist for your blog using this site.

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  2. Now I'll never get off Pandora! Thanks for the tip.

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